Hermione ended up sleeping in the infirmary at the insistence of Madam Pomfrey and Zabini. When he came back from dinner to change shifts he noticed the girl's face completely confused and serious as he stared at his hand being crushed by Draco's, and it was then that he realized that she had understood everything.

"I thought it would be faster." The brunette leaned back in his friend's bed, starting a conversation with Hermione.

"I can be smart, but I do not read minds." I was still looking at his hands "how would I find out if he barely talked to me about trivial matters?"

"Hermione, be honest with yourself: you already know. I just did not want to admit it. Come on, the kid starts to growl at a paper, purrs and looks black when he looks at you. We study about veelas, lack of information is no excuse."

"Do you give those too hard on him?" He asked, already staring at Zabini, half flushed.

"All the time."

"You ... Do you know how much time he has?" She did not want to, but her voice showed concern for feeling guilty about the situation.

"Well, until yesterday he was more than healthy, just hoping to kiss you. But after today, I really have no idea if he's going to wake up. The veela felt a deep disgust when he saw you with Krum. I think he would have taken it if you had been kissed, but how he took the attitude ... I have no idea."

It might seem calm but Blaise Zabini was crazy about worrying about his best friend.

"He woke up while you were having dinner. He was very agitated, he only managed to calm down when I promised to be at his side when he woke up."

"You should not have done that, Granger. If you do not like him, do not give him your pain. It would not be right with you or with him. Did you know he already has the names of your children?"

"Is that some side effect of veela?!" She was shocked.

"No, he's been counting since he was 13."

"My God ..." she was in total shock.

"I understand if you need time to absorb it all. But you need to give him an answer about Christmas."

"Tell him I agree to go to the Castle this year. Apologize for not being here in the morning, I need to process it all first. And please, do not tell him I know about veela. I need to think of a way to put it against the wall."

"As you wish."

It had been hard to loosen Malfoy's grip on his hand, but once he'd practically ran to his room. He did not even care about dinner tonight, his focus was on taking a shower and then going straight to bed.

I knew Draco had been released the next day, even though he was still quite weak. Apparently he had had enough strength to have an attack in the middle of the infirmary looking for Hermione. She honestly was not ready to face him knowing the truth. She knew he was giving her up, but she thought it was because she had nothing to do, not that her life depended on it.

At first he was irritated: how dare he use his good will to fall in love with him just so he would not die? And its principles? At least he was a good fighter, that had to admit. But if this were true, veela transformation only happened at age 17. So how could he tell the names of his children at 13? Had not she been at that age when she'd punched his face? That would mean that maybe he already liked her well before his choice. But if that was true, why the hell did his letter respond rudely when he finally declared himself to him?

It all made no sense. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

He wanted her, that was more than clear after he almost killed him in shock. She did not feel guilty, she thought it was just a normal boy who would shrug or in the worst of situations would stop talking to her. If she had noticed it before, she would not kiss Viktor in public.

Or would not he? She'd grown accustomed to the Slytherin's company, but did that mean she'd come back to like him? Or maybe even stopped. It was all so confusing to Hermione that the only certainty she had was that her thirteen-year-old self was radiant with Draco finally liking her, needing her. She smiled at that thought. She was definitely lucky to technically belong to the most coveted boy in school since James Potter. For a moment he found himself imagining the options he had and could find no way out of the situation.

Not because there was not, but because I did not want to.

She simply could not imagine a purpose other than him, which caught her totally unprepared and unprepared for the intensity of her emotions. He decided that he would solve the whole situation on holiday, but not without having some fun at his expense.

He would pay for not telling her before.